Furniture-caster.



S. LASKOWSKI. FURNITURE CASTER. APPLlcATmN FILED Juv/15.1918.

1 ,30 1 1 89 Patented Apr. 22, 1919.

'f i f By 'M STANLEY LASKOWSKI, 0F INDIANA HARBOR, INDIANA.

FURNITURE-Cesarea.

Leoniee.

Specicaton of Letters Patent. Patntd Apr. 22, 1919.

Application led July 15, 1918. Serial No. 244,918.'

v new and useful Improvements in Furniture Casters, of which the following is a specification.

The primary obj ect of the invention is the provision of an anti-friction caster for employment upon furniture adapted to be held assembled by mounting'the device upon a furniture leg or other article to be supported thereby.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a furniture. caster formedin separable parts readily disassembled when not in use so as to be easily and quickly repaired, the device, however, being readily secured upon apiece of furniture for supporting the furniture and held operatively assembled while so attached to the furniture.

With these general ob] ects in View, the device will be fully described in connection with the accompanying drawing in which like designating characters refer to corresponding parts throughout the several views.

In the drawing- Figure 1 is a central vertical sectional view taken through a portion of a furniture leg and the device operatively positioned therebeneath.

Figs. 2 and 3 are horizontal transverse sectional views taken upon lines II-H and III-III respectively of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the cap or housing for the bearing removed.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a ball retainer employed with the bearing, and

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the ball cage employed therewith.

My invention is applicable for anti-frictionally supporting any such members as articlesof furniture and is herein illustrated in connection with a furniture leg 10 having my caster attached to the bottom or lower face 11 thereof for supporting the furniture upon the oor or similar support 12.

' My improved caster consists of a cup shaped socket member 14 having an annular attaching flange 13 at its upper end. The bottom 1t?? of said socket member is provided with a central opening 16 adapted for receiving a bearing ball 18 which ball is positioned through the upper end of said socket member. The diameter of the opening 16 being slightly less than, that of the ball 18, the said ball is prevented from dropping through the opening. The sides of the opening 16 are slightly beveled and conform to the shape of the ball 18 whereby the latter is free to revolve during the operation of the device.

A-bearing cup Vor housingv 19 is provided withan inverted bowl-shaped base 20 adapted to receive a ball cage 21l therein while a retainer 22 cooperates lwith saidk cage for retaining the ball bearing members 23 in position when the device is assembled. The cage 21 has an annulus 24 for fiatly engaging the circular rim 25 of the base 20 with the semicircular transverse arms 26 flatly engaging the interior of said base. Recesses 27 are provided in the inner faces of the arms 26 for receiving the bearing members 23 while the retainer 22 which is of a shape corresponding to the cage 21 has its arms 28 provided with perforations 29 of less diameter than the bearing members 23 and adapted for fitting thereover for retaining said bearing members in the recesses 27.

The annulus 30 of the ball retainer 22 flatly engages the annulus 24 of the cage while a plurality of screws 31 extend through the annuli 30 and 24 and are threaded into the rim 25 of the base 20 for retaining the anti-friction ball 'bearing assembled. When the bearing is assembled in this manner, the housing 19 is seated within the socket member 14 with the annulus 30 of the ball `retainer 22 normally resting upon the bottom 17 of the socket member while the bearing members 23 rest upon the ball 18. The housing 19 is provided with a disk or head 32 centrally carried upon the base 20 for fitting within the mouth 15 of the socket member 14. Opposite grooves 33 are provided in the edges of the disk 32 adapted for receiving inwardly vprojecting lugs 34 provided upon the base plate 13 and whereby4 the housing 19 is prevented from rotating when operatively assembled within the socket member 14.

When the device is assembled in the inanner herein described, it will be seen that the housing 19 may be removed from the socket member 14 by tilting the bowl-shaped base 20 so as to pass the adjacent lug 34 during the removing operation, while the ball 18 may be readily removed after the housing 19 has been removed. The ball bearing members 23, however, will be retained with the housing 19 unless it is desired to disassemble the c-age 21 and ball retainer 22 by removing the screws 31. A serviceable antifriction bearing is provided and is .readily secured to the bottom 11 of the leg 12 by means of screws as illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawing,'it being seen that the socket member 14 through the medium of the attaching flange 13 and disk 32 will be held in firm contact with the leg which is antifrictionally sup-ported by means of the device. f Y

' What I claim as new'isz- 1. A furniture caster comprisinga socket member having an annular attaching flange at its upper end, said flange provided with apertures to receive fastening means for the securing of said socket member to an article of furniture, a disk closing the upper end of said socket member, an inverted bowl-shaped mem-ber secured centrally to the inner face ofvsaid disk and depending downwardly in said socket member to a point adjacent the lower end thereof, a bearing ball locatedin said bowl-shaped member and projecting partially through the central opening of said socket member, an anti-friction means interposed between said bearing ball and inner surface of said bowl-shaped member.

2. A furniture caster comprising a socket member having an annular attaching flange at its upper end, said flange providedwith apertures to receive fastening means for se- Y upper end of said socket member, said disk having opposite grooves therein and opposite inwardly projecting lugs carried by the socket member for'V reception within said grooves of the disk forapreventing relative rotation of the bowl-shaped member and disk relative to the socket member. o f

1n testimony whereof I affix my signature.

STANLEY LASKOWSKI.

v Copies of this patent may be obtained for vc cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

